The present invention relates to electropneumatic brake control on a train and more specifically to the electronic portion of the car electropneumatic brake control.
Electropneumatic brake control valves are well known in the passenger railroad art and the mass transit railroad art. Because the trains are short and are not involved generally in a mix and match at an interchange of different equipment, the ability to provide pneumatic and electrical control throughout the train has been readily available in the passenger and the mass transit systems. In freight trains, the trains may involve as much as 100 cars stretching over one mile or more. The individual cars may lay idle in harsh environments for up to a year without use. Also, because of the long distance they travel, the cars are continuously moved from one consist to another as it travels to its destination. Thus, the use of electropneumatic-pneumatic valves in the freight trains has been very limited.
A prior art system with electropneumatic train brake controls is illustrated in FIG. 1. An operator control stand 10 generally has a pair of handles to control the train braking. It controls a brake pipe controller 12 which controls the brake pipe 14 running throughout the train. It also includes a trainline controller 16 with power source 17 which controls the trainline 18 which is a power line as well as an electrical communication line. The operator control stand 10, the brake pipe controller 12 and the trainline controller 16 are located in the locomotive.
Each car includes a car control device 20 having a car ID module 22 and a sensor 24 connected to the trainline 18. The pneumatic portion of the car brakes include a brake cylinder 26, a reservoir 28 and a vent valve 29. The car control device 20 is also connected to the brake pipe 14 and the trainline 18. The brake pipe controller 12 is available from New York Air Brake Corporation as CCBII® and described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,006 to Sherwood et al. The trainline controller 16 and the CCD 20 are also available from New York Air Brake as a product known as EP60®. The car control device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,620 to Truglio et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,049,296 to Lumbis, et al. Each of these patents and products are incorporated herein as necessary for the understanding of the present patent.